Christian And Secularism : Characteristics Of Christianity And Secular Worldview

The acts of accounting and finance date back to the beginnings of recorded history and has evolved over the centuries to become a cornerstone of societies across the globe. Both the Old and New Testament of the Bible discuss the subject of accounting and finance in many scriptures and parables. The biblical concepts taught about accounting and finance are, without fail, applicable to modern business. Without an ethical foundation build upon a biblical foundation accounting and finance practices are bound to fail. This paper will tie biblical concepts to accounting and finance as well highlight the implications of a secularism.

The Bible was inspired by God and given to people in order to give guidance and clarity on how to view the world. A biblical worldview can be established by looking at the Bible, specifically at certain passages such as Romans 1-8. These chapters in Romans explain a biblical worldview in four categories: the natural world, human identity, human relationships, and culture. The secular worldview has immense differences in these same categories. The biggest difference between the secular worldview and the biblical worldview is that the biblical worldview is founded on the truth of scripture.

In contrast to the humanist’s worldview that everything happened by chance, Christians believe that from the beginning, everything that exists, including humans was the result of God. Now Christians do believe in micro-evolution, also known as adaption, where an animal can endure some changes to help itself adapt to a different condition, but will never form into a different species. There is still no scientific evidence that can prove otherwise. God made sure of this when he was creating all living things that he kept all species “according to its kind” (Genesis 1:21-25).

What are the biggest differences between a secular and a Christian worldview? Why is this an important question for this particular study of the Old Testament?

To define tension between the Secular and Christian worldview, it is imperative to know that the elements to Christianity conflict with Secularism. There is a great amount of tension, because what we believe implies that the way the western world is living is wrong and that they should change and do something different. The Secular world believes that our life decisions don’t matter. The Christian worldview conflicts and demands for a change, not a tolerance for this view that believes that life decisions don’t matter and that you should do what feels right.

In this report I will be both contrasting and comparing the religious view of Catholicism and the world view of Secular Humanism. The three questions I will be analysing through the religious view of Catholicism and the world view Secular Humanism include:

Islam accepts the fact that accounting is a social construction and itself constructs social reality but this social reality which the accounting constructs must conform to the dictates of Islamic belief.

When talking about accounting, the first thing we should know is the history of its development. Traditionally, the development is from inductive to deductive. Inductive theory assume what is done by the majority is the most appropriate practice. However, It did not seek to evaluate the logic or merit of

Businesses, investors, creditors rely on accounting ethics. The accounting profession requires honesty, consistency with industry standards, and compliance with laws and regulations. The ethics increase the responsibility and integrity of accounting professionals, and public trust. The ethical requirements influence the management behavior and decision-making. The financial scandal of Enron and Arthur Anderson demonstrates the failure of fundamental ethical framework, such as off-balance sheet transactions, misrepresentation of financial statements, inaccurate disclosure, manipulations with earnings, etc. The confronted accounting profession and concern for ethics in businesses forced regulators to revise the conceptual framework of accounting processes.

In this report I will be comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences between the religious tradition Christianity, with the world view of Secular Humanism.

When determining and defending the use of a particular ethical system within the confines of a profession, it is important to evaluate the system in terms of the professional culture as well as the expected professional conduct laid out within the vocation itself. The accounting profession has been evolving for thousands of years. Early accounting records date business transactions back as far as third century B.C. (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey, 2009). Early record keeping was for internal purposes and as societies and economies expanded, it became important to maintain records for external purposes as well. According to Schroeder, Clark & Cathey (2009), by the ninetheeth centruy, bookkeeing expanded into accounting (p. 3). From this time, it has been the duty of the accountant to serve the public interest and the profession has been culitvated into an organizational culture with professional norms and standards constantly taking shape in an effort to complete an all-inclusive conceptual framework.

Accounting and Finance represents two different views. Accounting is the foundation of all business, it can be shared into two methods financial and managerial. (Hicks & Hicks, pg. 3) On the other hand, Finance is the discipline that revolves around the allocation of money. (Hicks & Hicks, pg. 27) Both these approaches have entirely different connotations and are focused on financial statement , assets, liability, business entities, and additional concepts such as depreciation, units of production and cash flow. These theories appear to be manmade, however, the Bible tell us that “The earth is the LORD 'S, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." (Ps 24:1) With that in mind, leads one to believe that while everything one possesses, have knowledge or understands is God’s and that includes concepts of Accounting and Finance.

The definition of accounting theory according to Coetsee (2010) is described in two different ways. The first philosophy concludes that accounting theory is a set of general principles that guide the evolution of accounting practice. The other philosophy describes accounting theory as activity of explaining and predicting accounting practice. What the viewer can see from the statement of the first philosophy is that the accounting theory exists before accounting practices meanwhile the latter states that the accounting practice exists before the theory. Since there are many arguments about this matter, many academic researchers have concluded that accounting theory can be divided into two categories which are positive and normative theory.

Accounting is the language of business. It is a profession that is being guided by principles, concepts, conventions, laws, etc. All these fundamental building blocks serve as common and general compasses to all practitioners of the profession. In some cases, they are nation-wide tailored, while in other cases, they are universally tailored. Accounting as a living, practical, dynamic and realistic profession covers so many areas of social, economic (business), and governmental activities. Surely, any endeavour that involves monetary and material activities create a room for the services of Accounting. Many of the human endeavours for which the accounting profession plays significant (some times inevitable) roles include; Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing, Farming Contracting, Oil and Gas, Mining, Transportation (Air, Land and Sea), Educational Institutions, Churches, Ministries, ICT, Hire Purchase, Local Government Authorities, Estate Businesses, Export and Import Businesses, Bill of Exchange Transactions, Royalties Transactions, Consignment Transactions, Stock Market Transactions, Sports, Entertainment, Hospitals and Hospitality Industry, etc.

Religious Fundamentalism is not a modern phenomenon, although, there has received a rise in the late twentieth century. It occurs differently in different parts of the world but arises in societies that are deeply troubled or going through a crisis (Heywood, 2012, p. 282). The rise in Religious Fundamentalism can be linked to the secularization thesis which implies that victory of reason over religion follows modernization. Also, the moral protest of faiths such as Islam and Christianity can be linked to the rise of Religious Fundamentalism, as they protest the influence of corruption and pretence that infiltrate their beliefs from the spread of secularization (Heywood, 2012, p. 283). Religious Fundamentalists have followed a traditional